Bringing together the Wolf and the Tiger
by Suzy-Seas07
Summary: What is to happen when Casey's best friend shows up and tries to get them together? And what would happen if a previous boyfriend of Casey shows up? Will RJ will take it well? Rated M for graphic scenes later on. Theo / Lily, Fran / Dom , OC/ Casey, eventually Casey / RJ
1. Introduction

Hi Guys, this is my first RJ/Casey who are arguably my favorite ship in Power rangers Jungle Fury.

I would like to credit the cover to a new friend of mine, TheGirlWhoDoodles. Thank You.

I hope you like it and I will update it as often as I can and I hope you find it enjoyable. I would love to hear what you think of the story and what you think is going to happen.

For the squeamish among you who don't like slash you can enjoy the first few chapters but in a couple of chapters the slash will begin.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them but if I did own it i would definitely show this.

Thank you and without further ado here you go...

Set right after ghost of a chance

"Casey! You have someone here to see you" Lily yelled from the kitchen at Casey, who was up in the loft trying to find his phone which he had misplaced yesterday night. "What now?" Casey asked, exasperated.

As Casey descended the kitchen to see his visitor, he stopped wide-eyed, staring and praying to all the gods that were listening that whom he was seeing wasn't really there. "No, no, no, absolutely not" Casey screamed each word louder than the last before sprinting up the stairs and locking his door behind him. He heard footsteps behind him and pounding on his door.

"Come on out. Cookie. You're gonna have too." Laura taunted with what he knew to be a grin that would not be recognized as malevolent for most.

"Only if my life depended upon it, now go AWAY!" Casey yelled the last word and tried to pinch himself to see if all of this was a horrible nightmare.

"Oh, if I were you I would want to come out, I mean i wouldn't want somebody telling everybody about the blue dye -" Laura's words were lost as Casey tackled and knocked her to the ground before another word got out. " ...Casey" she said in that tone of exasperation "If you want me to go to bed with you, you just had to ask, I would have definitely have come" she said, batting her eyelashes.

Casey growled and marched past her, trying to calm himself by focusing on his breathing. When he was at the stair he turned to see Laura off the ground, trying to check for any wrinkles in her clothes. With a sigh he said "Laura, if you say anything about anything I will lock you in a dark dungeon and throw the only key into the middle of the Atlantic. So please be so kind as to leave before I lose my patience which I am very close to." Casey said through gritting teeth and as big a fake smile as he could.

But before Laura could respond the alarms went off signalling another monster in the city. Casey's eyes widened when Laura looked confused and then turned to look in his direction but he was already going down the stairs two at a time and racing past Fran he hollered " Fran, make sure the girl up there stays put" before rushing out the door, catching up to the Rhino Ranger who had been snoozing.

After morphing and taking care of the rinshis they faced the Stelther, a monster with the spirit of a panther. The five rangers fought him and took him down with the Claw Cannon but he again turned big and they summoned their zords.

In Megazord formation they again fought but found it hard as he seemed to have more mobility here then on the ground but finally they got him and hurt him badly. But he escaped before they could destroy him.

As they were returning to JKP Casey saw Fran putting up the closed sign and look confusedly at his watch and wondered how it had already become so late. " How could so much time have passed, were we really that oblivious to it?" Casey muttered.

Dom who had been walking beside him answered him " Nah Casey, we were having a good time and hence we have proven why they say that time flies when we're are having fun."

"How is getting beat up by overgrown wild beast fun exactly?" Theo complained.

"You guys, stop complaining, we have to help Fran - " Lily didn't get a chance to finish as something pink rushed out the door and sent Casey to the ground.

"Ow!, Laura I have already gotten all the bruises I want today so would you mind getting off of me?" Casey exclaimed.

"You bastard, where were you up till now? Huh? I was so worried I was about to call the police!" She said as she was rattling Casey near unconsciousness.

Laura got up and growled before lunging and dragging Casey back inside the JKP leaving the rest of the Rangers bewildered in their midst. "So, who was that exactly?" RJ ventured to ask.

"Casey's visitor from the afternoon, I wondered where she was." Lily replied shaking the dizziness out of her system and entering the pizza parlour to find Fran walking to the door with her hands on her hips and puffing her cheeks. The rest of them filed in behind her and sank down on the nearest table they could find.

"So Fran, how was business?" RJ asked spreading an extra large grin at her.

"Running only because Lily had prepared extra dough for the pizzas to be finished quicker" Fran replied with a dark look and a growl in her voice.

RJ gulped and moved slowly to her "Well then Fran why don't you leave us to clean up and I promise soon I will give you time off and don't worry you're getting paid more than those guys" This earned a "Hey!" from the remaining three rangers but Fran smiled and started to giggle.

That was when they heard a loud crash and they all exchanged one look before rushing up the stairs.

The pain going though Casey was making him incredibly dizzy but he managed to get up and dodge her next incoming attack. But in trying to avoid her he crashed into the shelf and ended up on the floor covering his head to avoid all the things that fell on top of him. At the same time Laura ran into a vase and sent it crashing.

As the others entered they saw the scenes and were confused to see both Laura and Casey in the floor with stuff all around them and both of them being in opposite sides of the room yet both wearing a mask of fury. RJ hurried to Casey while Lily went to Laura and Theo, Dom and Fran watched the scene unfold.

Casey felt warm, firm hands lifting him slowly off the ground and turned to see RJ, who had that look that only RJ could pull off, a smile that spread till his ears and a questioning look in his eyes. One look at him and Casey merely sighed before following him as he led him to the sofa in the side of the loft. He saw Lily bringing Laura here while Laura was muttering something and turning to glower at Casey.

"Okay want to tell us what is going on here Casey? Who is she? What is she doing here? And why do you not want her here?" Lily asked crossing her arms while the rest of the crew gathered.

"Yeah Casey, answer them. I can't wait to hear what you have to say" Laura taunted him.

Casey glowered at her before turning back to his friends who were all looking at him either questioningly or expectantly. He let out a deep breath and started to tell their history.

"Guys, this is Laura, my best friend from my real life, and one of the most annoying people I have ever met. Just before I came to our school and then here I made her really angry I refused to pretend to be her boyfriend in front of the guy she had a crush on and she got mad at me because in the end she was not good enough for him. Okay? That's all there is to it, oh and she is also a mother hen so she was always protecting me, according to her anyways. Also she has this thing of making jokes about me trying to get her into bed while time and again i have told her i would much rather get eaten by the wolf pack that lives in the forest behind our neighborhood. Casey ended looking at Laura who wore a deadpan face she had nailed a long time ago.

His friends just blinked and stared from one to the other waiting for the big joke, and when it didn't come they looked out to each other and burst out laughing anyways. Casey looked at them through irritated and annoyed while Laura just stared at them.

"Anyone care to explain what they find so funny?" Casey all but shouted to any of his friends who were still conscious. "Yeah, what do you guys find so funny, huh?" Laura added with confusion setting in her face.

RJ managed to get enough control of his sense, enough to walk up to the Tiger spirit and put his arms on either side locking him to the sofa. Then RJ looked at Casey in the eye and in all seriousness said. " So Casey, this is the famous Laura who you have been dreaming about, telling her to not let you go, that you love her and that she is completely irreplaceable to you huh?

Casey blushed furiously, his face almost matching his shirt colour from the combination of those words, feeling RJ's presence so close to him, hearing RJ's voice in his ear and that look in his eyes that Casey could only figure to be mischief. He replied stuttering "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about … sh-sh-she is my friend th-th-that's all I swear, nothing else"

Laura who had been able to hear the whole exchange watched the way the two of them were standing and the look in both their eyes, RJ's flashing with something that Laura could've sworn was jealousy and Casey was looking cornered and flustered. But why? What was going on between them to cause them to react so? Laura then turned to the rest of Casey's friends to find that they were looking at the pair with smiles and getting up. She was missing something of that there was no doubt but had a hint as to what it could be. It was then that some blasted alarms went off again and all of them tensed before all but one girl ran for the stairs and were out and slamming the door behind them within a minute. Once again Laura blinked and turned to the girl, let out a deep breath and looked at her and asked "So, does this kind of thing happen often where the alarms just randomly go off and they sprint out somewhere?"

Fran looked at her and shrugged before replying "yes, pretty much. By the way, my name is Francesca but everyone calls me Fran. At least now it went off when the restaurant was closed otherwise I would have to be the one in charge of it and everything happening. So Laura right, how would you like me to show you your room?"

Laura processed what Fran had just said and replied "Wait I was going to stay with Casey where he lives, I'm confused are you telling me he lives here in this loft?"

Fran looked surprised and nodded and after that both went downstairs collected her bags which she had dropped behind one of the kitchen counters and Fran showed her to Lily's and her (temporarily) room in the corridor below the holes the rangers used to get to the monster (usually when there was no one in the loft that knew their identity of course). She then went up the stairs, showed her the other set of stairs through which they had come and connected them to the kitchen and the tunnel beside the fridge which led to the two rooms occupied by RJ, Theo, Casey and Dominic. She said that first RJ had lived alone here in the room that she and Lily shared for now but once they had moved in given it up to Lily as she was the girl and probably needed the space but he insisted saying that as much as he would like to have his room he didn't trust her sleeping next to two boys. So Theo and Casey shared that room and once Dominic had arrived, having no room RJ decided to let Dominic share his room but very clearly marked whatever was his. After this Fran help Laura cook some dinner for them all and said that she was now staying almost daily for dinner here and then returned to her home. For the next half hour they chatted and got to know about one another as they cooked dinner. Then they waited for their friends to come back and Laura learnt more about them all.


	2. Next Day

His head throbbed and as Casey started to get up he gripped the bed as he felt a wave of dizziness go over through him. "Ow, stupid Laura and her throwing me against the cabinet. Since when did she get so strong anyways?" Casey complained as he shook his head and got his orientation. Then he went to the bathroom brushed his teeth and took a quick shower. As he was coming out he saw RJ going to his room but turning when he heard the bathroom door open. Casey couldn't help but blush as he felt the Wolf Master's eyes travel up and down his body. "Good Morning RJ, where is Theo? When I woke up he was already gone and his bed was made." Casey said

RJ looked spaced out for a second but on hearing Casey's voice came back to reality and replied "Oh Master Swoop came by an hour ago and told me to wake Theo up because they were going on some sort of field trip. Lily went out to buy some ingredients we were running low on and Dom went to meet Fran and to do their morning run. Your friend is still asleep though."

Casey chuckled at Dom's actions, it was plain to anyone who saw the two of them together to see they were perfect for each other and had great chemistry. Dom after having this pointed out him by Lily realised she was right and asked Fran to accompany him on his routine morning run and from then on they had started running together almost every day. "Don't worry about Laura, it's Saturday and it's before noon so there is no chance she will wake up not to mention the fact that she was travelling all day yesterday and we stayed up late. If she hasn't completely changed her personality she will probably sleep till 5:00." RJ chuckled and looked at him _tenderly?_ No, why would he see him that way. Casey blushed and looked to the floor and then realised he was still wrapped up in just a towel and RJ too seemed to realise and he excused himself and ran to his room and shut the door behind him, his face flaming his ranger colour of bright red.

_Why am I getting so flustered by RJ seeing me in a towel? It is not like he could like me, no he is just my master and a fellow ranger. And yet the way his eyes looked at me, NO! I can't raise my hopes; I can't get my heart crushed again and especially not now. I need to concentrate; I am the Red Ranger and Team Leader. I need to focus._/Cub, you are over thinking it, and you are lying to yourself/_Tigra, my tiger spirit what do you mean I am lying to myself?_/Oh Cub, you are lying to yourself if you think the Wolf is not attracted to you, and that you don't like him. If you didn't then why would you even be spending more than a second on this subject, the Jaguar has seen you in this state plenty of times and so has the Rhino. But you only got flustered with the Wolf, do you really think that is an accident?/ Tigra reasoned.

Casey wondered about these words and saw that she was right. With a shake to clear his head he got dressed and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for himself and the others. Lily was the first one back and had too many bags to carry in one trip from the JKP van to inside the store. Casey went to help her and then they both started putting everything where it needed to be. "So Casey, you said Laura was your best friend before you came to Pai Zhua but for how exactly. You went rather fast yesterday and after the fight none of us really could get past the fact that you would rather get eaten by wolves. And why wolves huh?" Lily said bluntly.

At the mention of wolves Casey turned slightly red and tried to cover it but Lily had already seen it. " Well Lily you see my parents are both doctors who work for Doctors without Borders and they love it so they are always travelling from place to place in Africa but after the first year in Congo they decided that it wouldn't do me any good. I was about 7 or 8 at the time so when we returned to America they dropped me off with my Uncle who had just a few months ago lost his wife to cancer. He had a 10 year old son, Jake and he had insisted that they let me stay with him as our only other option was my paternal Grandmother. My mother's parent both live in London and my parents wanted me to grow up in America so they agreed to let me stay with Uncle but that they would pay for my care." Casey narrated. Lily had been listening attentively and was surprised by both how easily Casey had talked and how much there was about Casey that she did not know. He was looking at her and she gave him the go ahead look to tell him to keep talking.

Casey continued "After that I went to live with Uncle and Jake who is as much a brother to me as I'll get. Soon after I met the neighbours and started going to school and everything was fine. Then in 5th grade this new girl moved into town, she was shy and she didn't talk to anybody, she almost seemed scared. So I decided to talk to her and we became fast friends, especially after we realized we only lived a block apart. After that we were inseparable and we just about everything together. In 9th grade we became a little apart given that she had started dating and would always be on dates with her boyfriend. But we still hung out. Then at the end of my junior year of school I got a letter saying I was invited to train with the Pai Zhua, by this point Jake had gone on to University. So my uncle decided it would help me to send me to the academy instead of coming home to an empty house since he had been recalled to the Army. Before you ask how that is possible, he was a special operative for the army who did super secret missions and they needed him to lead another that is all I know. He came back home about two months ago which is when I asked RJ for a break to go home for a week remember? That is my story Lily, what else do you wish to know?"

Lily looked at him for a minute lost but then smiled and replied "Sorry Casey, I didn't mean to seem intruding, I just wanted to know about you and Laura. I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable.

Casey looked at her for a time before sighing and explaining "Sorry Lily, I didn't mean to explode on you it is just that I wasn't expecting Laura and the fighting has increased and I am just tired and frustrated because I am the leader and I don't know what to do. I didn't want to take it on you; I was just looking for an excuse to." Lily smiled again but this time sympathetically and asked "why don't you want Laura here, you seem to like her a lot and you have a history and get along well, I don't get why you want her to leave so badly. What aren't you telling me?"

Casey shook his head and looked up and smiled at her "Not today Lily, or at least not from me, you've learnt enough about me today." Lily opened her mouth to speak but that was when the restaurant door opened and Dominic came in followed by a Fran, both talking about something that had obviously interested them both. "So guys, how was the run? You seem to have had a lot of fun." Casey remarked with a wide grin on his face. This caused both to blush; Fran's slightly more visible than Dom's.

Lily continued with the tease and added "Did you argue about your books or did you actually run or perhaps you were doing something else" Lily said with a raised eyebrow and a grin as big as Casey's on her face. That comment turned both to the colour of tomatoes and Casey and Lily started laughing their heads off. At this moment RJ chose to enter to hear all the noise and found two of his employees laughing and his best friend and his 'girlfriend' both red in the face. RJ cleared his throat which caught their attention and they all quietened down but seemed to all want to start talking at once so he silenced them and said "I don't want to know what was said in this room but I will tell you what I want to hear, customers coming in, pizzas being made and eaten. We are short of Theo who went on an excursion into the jungles with Master Swoop and there might be more monsters so I want us to be prepared for anything. And needless to say not a word of this to our temporary guest is that understood?

All of the rangers nodded their heads and grabbed their breakfast and continued their lively chatter till it was time for the restaurant to open. The day went by smoothly until after the noon rush hour by which point they were all exhausted. It was then that Laura came down, showered and looking perky. "Good Afternoon guys, what's up?" Casey who had been leaning back on the seat took one look at her and put his head to rest on the table with a long sigh. "Laura, I understand that you have a lot of energy given that you just woke up but we have been up for a long time and have just worked our butts off. So please just go out and do something and leave us and by us I mean me, _alone_." Laura looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a smile and walked up to him, shook him slightly for Casey to life his head and smiled bigger before kissing his forehead. Then holding her face still close to his "My little Casey, what kind of a friend would I be if I couldn't even sense my friend's desperate need for sleep. You were awfully loud last night, wanna tell me what you were dreaming about?" She finished with a wink. Casey sat upright a huffed "I was sleeping and I was not being loud. That is just your perverted mind making it up.


	3. A Wild Afternoon

Chapter 3

It was at that moment that the door of the restaurant seemed to come off its hinges and cave when something huge hit it hard. All the occupants started at the half broken door and one exchange of glances set all but Laura to work. Casey, Lily, Theo (who had joined them only a few minutes back) and Dominic opened what was left of the door while Fran attempted with the help of RJ to drag the still-in-shock Laura inside the kitchen. As soon as the two were in the Kitchen RJ too ran outside to see the problem and soon regretted it, because as soon as he set foot outside the restaurant he felt as if a truck had run straight into his gut and he was tossed against the Pizzeria wall so hard he fell down unconscious. The rest of the Rangers seeing this formed a blockade before him and rushed up on the monster.

"Rangers, why don't you surrender now before I blow up this entire building? Surrender already to Dai Shi or else I will destroy you." The huge boulder like monster shrieked.

"Blockhead you are going to pay for that. You hurt one of us you get the rest of us and I can promise you we will not go easy on you by no means, Jungle maze!" Lily replied.

Casey took the opportunity to run to RJ and see how he was. When he got there he found RJ unconscious on the floor which was scattered with the splinters of the broken door. He turned around to find Fran and Laura and was grateful to see their feet behind the kitchen door. Sparing a glance behind him to see the rest of the rangers tackling the talking boulder he grapped RJ and hauled him over his shoulders and walked towards the kitchen thinking "That's it RJ, you have _got _to cut down on the pizza, you weigh much more than you look". He went through the doors to find Fran and Laura holding the pizza remover and a spatula at his face. Once they saw who it was they quickly helped Casey put RJ down on the floor and after getting a promise that the two were to take him into the food closet and stay there till it was safe and one of the other come to get them. Laura started to argue that he too should come but Casey had already gone out the door and Fran was trying to get her to help with RJ because one she knew her colleagues' alter egos and knew that they would defeat the monster if they didn't also have to worry about them and two, RJ was _really _heavy for someone small like Fran to do it all by herself.

Once Casey left the two of them to take care of it, he ran out the door and got there in time to see the giant rock throw Lily to the wall. Yelling "Jungle Beast! Spirit Unleashed!" He transformed into the Red ranger and tackled the boulder from behind. The other two took this as a cue to morph into their outfits and helped Casey. After Lily got up and better she used her speed to deviate the attack that the monster had for Theo and got a good kick in herself. All of them got the monster in a corner and were about to blast it with the cannon when the monster decided it did not want to be evaporated and decided to escape to the monster's lair. The ranger's let out frustrated sighs and synchronised shouts of "NO!"

The four de-morphed and went inside the restaurant to assess the damage and were thankful that the only thing immediate thing was the blasted door and the broken glass of the vases that RJ had put that day as a special change of atmosphere with various coloured flowers. While Theo and Lily volunteered to clear up the mess Dominic and Casey went to get the girls and RJ. Dom went to go help RJ as he was surprisingly skilled at healing techniques of the Pai Zhua that were only taught to high ranking students who were extremely skilled, even some masters didn't know it till later when they had more discipline and learnt to be one with their spirit.

Casey went to get Laura and try to make sense of the situation. He found her standing aside still in shock as she watched Fran and Dom hoist RJ up the stairs. So much so that it took her a few moments to realize that Casey was lightly shaking her. She came back to earth, looked around, and then at Casey, repeated the procedure one more time before completely exploding and shrieking at the top of her voice. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?! CASEY! YOU ... YOU, WHAT THE HELL?!" Casey waited for her to stop, wincing from her volume thinking _how the heck does someone of her size have such a loud voice? _After getting Laura to sit down and drink a glass of water he started explaining.

"Laura, you see when I said I was moving to a new school, it wasn't an ordinary school, it was a Pai Zhua Academy, and before you interrupt let me finish then i'll do my best to answer all your questions, okay? This academy is sort of like a martial arts school where the students learn to fight, discipline and control themselves and a part of them that is called their Animal Spirits. Animal Spirits are inside all of us, they are a reflection of your personality in the form of the animal that most closely resembles it. For most, they go throughout their lives never aware of these spirits but a select few get in touch with them, for one reason or another. Everyone who works here but Fran also went to the academy. A few months ago something happened that caused the academy to be destroyed and the Master there told us to come here to find our new master. Are you following me to this point?" Casey asked questioning her with his eyes. Laura took a deep breath and nodded and signalled for Casey to go on. "When we arrived here monsters like the one you just saw started coming out and when they appeared so did the Power Rangers. As to why this monster chose to attack us, I can't tell you, at least not now, but he wanted something from us. What I can't be sure but what I do know is that he will be back and I don't want you to get caught up in this mess, so while before I meant for you to go home because you were annoying albeit in a sisterly way now I am begging to go because I can't risk you getting hurt. You said you wanted to see what became of me and now you've seen me and can see that I'm fine and everything is ok. So can you **please** go home?" Casey pleaded.

At this Laura shook her head and responded " Kiddo, I care about you and you are right I am protective of you, but that is because you need protection. I came here to check up on you and while I am glad to see you healthy and with a home and people who care about you, I am not going to go home after witnessing a demon from the depths of the underworld try to kill all of you. No, you've lost your mind if you think I am going to leave you like this. Since when I am more mature than you I have no idea, especially since I am only a few months older than you. But you are right, you are my brother, I care about you and love you and I am not going to abandon you in the middle of this mess, no either I stay till the mess is over or you come with me and we return home." Laura finished firmly.

Casey looked stunned but then said "Laura you don't understand, these people they are as much my family now as you and Uncle so I can't abandon them. They need me and ... I have my own life now, here with them. Thank you for caring for me so much but you need to go back it is the best thing to do. Please."

"No can do, I you insist on staying then I won't stop you but the same applies in that you don't get to stop me and I am going to stay here with you, no resistance. You may have gone to a fancy martial arts school but I went with you to sleepovers and camping and know all the ways to make you squirm and squeal. What do you say?" Laura ended with a devious grin. Casey for himself looked defeated but before he could come up with a good reason why he couldn't let that happen Fran answered for him.

"I think that sounds reasonable, Casey think about it, in her shoes would you leave you behind?" Casey slumped and shook his head. "Exactly, I agree that it is not good for you to stay Laura but I understand where you come from. And I know it is not my business but I think we can come to a compromise here." At this both Laura and Casey turned to Fran and waited for her to propose it. Fran on her part sporting an unusual sly smile said "Seeing as Laura is determined to stay and Casey being uncomfortable with her here, how about Laura does stay but with me back in my apartment. God knows I need help when the rest of you rush out in the middle of the day somewhere and I am left all by myself to run this place, I think we could use an extra set of hands. As for RJ I am pretty sure I can convince him. This way everyone wins, Laura gets to stay, Casey gets to know that she is away from this danger zone and I get help." Both of them were grinning by the end of the speech and broke out into smiles when Fran put on a pose of standing with her hands on her hips.

"Well well Fran, look how far we've come" Casey said with a wink that caused Fran to drop the pose and blush slightly instead. "I guess I have no choice then, Laura you ok with this?" he asked turning to here. "Sounds good to me Casey, but Fran just so you know I have never worked in a pizzeria or anything like it before so if something happens keep that in mind." Laura said with a chuckle and a wink. Fran got a huge smile on her face and clapped a couple of times in enthusiasm at the prospect of having a roommate and a new friend. Casey tilted his head slightly and asked "Just one last question, since when do you have ideas like this? Not telling that you are dumb or anything, but it is just so spontaneous for you."

At this Dom came up behind Fran and wrapped his hands around her waist, scaring her and making her jump. "Relax Fran it's only me and Casey that would be yours truly, I have been instructing Fran in the ways of the jungle and how to survive." Dom boasted. Casey shook his head and said "I should've guessed." He then became alert and inquired "Dom, how is RJ, is he alright?" Dom nodded and replied "RJ is fine, tired but fine. He is sleeping but he'll be back to himself in no time flat promise." Casey looked relieved and something else but it disappeared quickly, yet not quickly enough that Laura missed it.

The mood lightened after that and they all went to help Lily and Theo who were almost done anyways and after clearing the debris and updating them on Laura's decision and Fran's proposition which Lily thought was great and Theo took as surprised that Fran would do that, they all made themselves ready for the next wave of customers who were due to arrive at any moment now.


	4. A Fight and Laura

Chapter 4

- SOME HOURS LATER -

All six workers of the pizzeria collapsed on the floor of the loft, exhausted by the day's work.

"Are all the days busy like this or is it just the days when we get attacked that the entire city decides to pay us a visit?" Laura asked with a slight smirk.

"Usually the customers are a little more tame but perhaps they ... they ... Oh I have no idea but it seems like the city thought it'd be fun to come and torment us and exhaust our storerooms" Fran concluded, exasperation evident in her voice.

"I personally wouldn't have minded if we could have told them we were out of business for the day, would've been believable, I mean the door was missing, which reminds me you sure we weren't stolen a couple of pizzas by the little brats who decided to eat ten pizzas then escape?" Dom inputted.

" I don't care what happened today so long as we don't get a second call from the monsters ..." No longer had the words left Casey's mouth when the entire loft started ringing with the alarms. Four of the employees groaned at the prospect of having to go into battle while Fran tried to distract Laura by dragging her downstairs and coming up with some lies to make up for the strangeness of the situation.

The rangers once Laura was safely downstairs took the vines and left the loft morphed and ready for action to face the giant boulder again. They found it by the port this time and saw it wreaking havoc to the nearest boat.

"Hey! Cut that out NOW!" Casey shouted drawing the monster's attention who once he turned had an evil grin on his face.

The monster in its raspy voice replied "Oh look the rangers are here and in their little costumes this time. But what's this? 1, 2, 3, 4, 4 rangers only? What happened? I scared the fifth ranger away?" he said as he started cackling.

At this the four rangers got angry and attacked him, surrounding him and hitting him together. But the monster was strong and after the initial attack recovered and started fighting back and overpowering the rangers quickly. It managed to get Casey cornered when it was hit by a blast to the leg that brought it to its knees. The rangers turned to see where the shot came from and were greeted with the sight of the Purple Wolf Ranger coming towards them. Casey took the monsters distraction to hit him directly and go to Lily and Theo's side to quickly call up the Claw Cannon which was also boosted with the Rhino ranger's and Wolf ranger's animal spirits. The monster had barely turned to attack them when it was hit by the blast that rendered it destroyed. But as with all monster this one grew to ten times its original size and started taunting the rangers. The rangers quickly called forth the Megazord and engaged it in combat. Yet it was only after combining the Megazord with the Shark Zord that they were able to destroy it completely.

By the time they were finished they all felt like they could fall asleep standing and returned to the loft only with thoughts of bed. Well all but the red ranger who was also thinking of his friend and of a certain Wolf ranger and wondering if she had made the connection and if there was even that connection to make. The Wolf ranger was also thinking about Casey but in a different way, wondering when the cub had gotten so strong and if he was ready to catch up to Lily and Theo who were still a couple levels ahead of him even though when one saw them fighting together it may not seem like that.

They were entering the restaurant when once again Casey was assaulted by Laura but who this time was sort of prepared for it and so didn't end up falling to the floor. Laura looked at Casey menacingly enough that the rangers had enough sense to slip past her and up the loft trying to ignore the looks of desperation that Casey was giving them. When the other left Casey muttered under his breath cursing them for being such bad friends, then he turned to Laura who was still in a position that would make it easy for her to strangle him.

"CASEY RHODES. YOU HEAR ME NOW AND YOU LISTEN CAREFULLY BECAUSE GOD HELP YOU NEXT TIME!" Laura shrieked. Casey tried to defend but she kept on going "YOU EVER LEAVE ME WITHOUT EXPLANATION FOR HOURS AND THEN SHOW UP LOOKING LIKE YOU GOT HIT BY A TRUCK, I SWEAR EVERY FREAKING POWER RANGER ON THIS PLANET WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE YOU! YOU HEAR ME!" Laura said, panting from the overexertion. Casey looked at her with wide eyes filled with confusion and fear. _Does she know I'm a ranger?! How did she find out? Did Fran tell her? OH MY GOD! _Laura of course was unaware of what was going through Casey's head and only let him go before rubbing her forehead and sighing. Then she turned back to Casey and explained "Look Casey, I know you have things to do but I want you to realise that I care about you and I want you to be safe which as the past two days have shown if they are any proof that it isn't. Since you refuse to come back home I have agreed to stay with you, but I am doing it to keep an eye on you. No, let me finish before you start, I care about you, you are more a brother than a friend to me. I worry about you because you can be reckless and do something without thinking it through. I am aware that you are grown up and are capable of making your own choices and I respect you for it but realize that those choices affect the ones who care about you too. I know I will not be able to stop you from this madness, there was a time when I could and I am proud that you've grown out of it but I need you to realize, you are a very important person to me. Back when my family first moved I was terrified of what was going to happen so I decided to put a mask and show myself as a tough girl who you shouldn't mess with. Then I met you and we became friends and I realized that it wasn't a mask anymore. I LOVE you Casey, I love you so much, and I know that you know that too. So I ask you please, if you are going to run off again then to tell me and if you are keeping a secret which you most certainly are, and a secret that you can't seem to tell me, which confuses me, you know I will always care for you so I don't know what you are so afraid off telling me. I am not going to change my mind unless you give me a good reason that is true. Please, look after yourself and know you can always trust me." Laura finished with a small voice and ruffled Casey's hair, giving him a small smile and pulling him into a hug.

Casey was touched and relieved that she hadn't found out that he was a ranger but also disappointed. Her words had been heard loud and clear and casey felt like thanking every god in existence for giving him such a friend. But now he also wanted to tell her his secret but couldn't and it just frustrated him so much. Casey just leaned into the hug and stayed, comforted with the familiar arms and the hand brushing his hair.

After what felt like forever the two broke apart and gave each other a knowing smile before Laura got up from the bench they had seated themselves in and said "It's gotten late and I promised Fran I'd return soon. So I'm going to be leaving now but see you tomorrow,Cookie" she finished with a slight smirk. Casey gave a small chuckle before saying that he'd walk her there. The two of them thus left the restaurant in direction of Fran's house.

- Meanwhile in the Loft-

Once the rangers had raced up they all exchanged one glance before moving to a position that allowed them to shamelessly eavesdrop on their ranger. They sat and heard the whole conversation except the very end where Laura's voice got really low. Then they heard them getting up and the bell signalling their departure from the restaurant.

Lily broke the silence and said "Laura is an amazing friend, I wish I had someone like her" which evoked a small protest from Theo but RJ replied "Well now you do, I'm sure she'll be your friend too Lily." Lily just shook her head at the word and after a small sigh said "Perhaps but never with the closeness they share.

Then Dom got up and said "While the three of you argue I am going ot go to bed which seems the most sensible thing to do and seeing as I am never the sensible one you might want to reflect upon that too" Dom said with his trademark grin and walked up to his and RJ's room. The others decided to heed Dom's advice and left for their rooms leaving only the corridor light on for Casey for when he was to return.


End file.
